Some people try to protect their children from unpleasant realities like illness, financial loss and death. But doctors point out that children can often end up feeling left out if they are old enough to understand what’s going on, but are not told the truth about family worries.

One widowed father told me how deeply he regretted that he and his late wife did not tell their son that his mother was dying of leukemia(白血病). “For months we kept that truth to ourselves. We thought we were protecting our son from emotional pain,” he recalled. “It was a great mistake. I had time to prepare myself. But my wife’s death stunned our boy. It was years before he trusted me again.”

Says Judith Davenport, a psychotherapist(心理治疗医师) who practises in Santa Monica, California. “It’s important to let children experience the reality of death, if it can be done in an atmosphere of love and caring. A child whose sibling, parent or grandparent is seriously ill can be made to feel helpful by being allowed to run errands(跑腿) or answer the phone. Even a very young child can comfort a sick loved one with a brief cheering visit.”

In many matters, if children are not told the facts about a financial setback, says Grace W. Weinstein, writer of Children and Money, they may imagine the worst. For example, they might think they’ll have no food to eat or will lose their home, when the simple reality may be that luxuries(奢侈品) will have to be taken away.

Even the busiest family can arrange to share a relaxed evening meal together at least once or twice a week. Mealtimes are often the only time that families can engage in stimulating(机动人心的) conversations.

Says Michael Abrahams, a licensed(得到许可的) clinical social worker in Rockville, MD. “How mealtime is used to argue or talk, discipline or praise is a good barometer(晴雨表) of whether a family is drifting apart or drawing closer.”

Another way to strengthen family closeness is to encourage your youngsters to invite a friend

for dinner from time to time, giving each child a turn at choosing the guest. This makes parents get to know their children’s friends, and also helps youngsters feel they are respected members of the family.

A joint endeavor can be stimulating if you choose one that everyone enjoys. Try planting and cultivating a garden, or organizing that box of old snapshots into a family album(相册), or learning how to bake bread from starch.

One father recalls the shared sense of success he and his son experienced when they finished building a dining-room table. “We started six months ago with plants and planks,” he says. “When the job was done, we looked at each other and said, ‘We did it1’”

1．The passage is written mainly for _____________

       A．parents                B．children               C．social workers     D．teachers

2．Judging from the passage, what does “sibling” in the third paragraph mean?

       A．Friend                 B．Brother and sister C．Cousin                D．Relative

3．What does the writer suggest in order to strengthen family ties?

       A．Youngsters should invite friends to dinner at home.

       B．Parents had better plant and cultivate a vegetable garden.

       C．Make sure to let the child, no matter how old he is, know right now if somebody in your        family is going to die.

       D．Parents should tell their children of financial setback in the family in order that they get        prepared psychologically(心理上)。

4．Why does building a dinner-room table give the father and his son shared sense of success?

       A．Because building a table a great pleasure.

       B．Because others didn’t believe that they could finally do it.

       C．Because a dining-room table is very important to the family.

       D．Because they achieve something by doing something together.

 

 

All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year; sometimes as short as twenty-four hours, but always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed man chose to spend his last days or his last hours.

Such stories set up thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What happiness should we find in reviewing the past, what regrets?

Sometimes, I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with a gentleness, a vigor, and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant repetition of more days and months and years to come.

Most of us take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future, when we are in pleasant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless prospect. So we go about our little task, hardly aware of our listless attitude towards life.

The same attitude, I am afraid, falls on the use of our abilities and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the various blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered loss of sight of hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed abilities. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sound hazily, without concentration, and with little appreciation. Seldom do people realize how good it is being in good health until they have fallen ill. It is the same old story of not being grateful without missing.

1.When reading the thrilling stories, we usually ______.

    A. have curiosity about the hero’s limited life  B. show great interest in our own lives

    C. find many regrets in reviewing the past    D. have mercy on the doomed man

2.From the passage, we can learn that ______.

    A. the author thinks it would be excellent to live if he should die the next day

    B. the disabled are anxious to regain their abilities and senses

    C. each of us should treasure what we have possessed today

    D. many of us are able to make full use of our time

3.The underlined word “hazily” in the last paragraph probably means ______.

    A. happily      B. unclearly            C. freely          D. enthusiastically

4.The best title for this passage may probably be ______.

    A. Not Being Grateful without Missing       B. Giving a Hand to the Disabled

    C. Making Use of Abilities and Senses       D. Learning from Thrilling Stories

                                C

The Philippines expects that some 110,000 South Korean students will travel to the country in 2007, mainly to attend English language lessons, the Philippines Daily Inquirer has reported.

Head of Philippine Department of Tourism Team Korea, Maricon Basco Ebron, made the assessment at the recently concluded Korea Student Fair 2007, which attracted 30,000 South Korean students, all seriously planning to study abroad. In that event alone, around 8,000 students were booked by 14 Philippine-based schools.

According to Ebron, the estimated figure was based on actual figures recorded by the Philippine Bureau of Immigration in the past. The number of students would account for about 15 to 17 percent of the total visitors expected from South Korean in 2007. “Yet, that percentage is quite conservative since it does not include students with alien resident visas or those young people being brought in by South Korean retirees and businessmen,” Ebron said.

While the Philippines is not a native English-speaking country, the cheaper cost of English-based education is a major plus for South Koreans. “Sending a child to the US for one year is equivalent to sending a child to the Philippines for two years---plus the mom,” Ebron said, referring to the fact South Korean parents could easily come to the Philippines to check on their children.

    Oh Hyun-Sook, who works with the Philippine tourism office in Seoul, estimated the cost of South Korean university education at $4,000 per semester, or roughly four times the tuition for the same period in a major university in Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, many South Koreans enroll in short-term English as Second Language courses or study for the TOFL in the Philippines as preparation for further education in another country. Younger students come in for language camps, typically two-month courses during their summer or winter break.

According to Oh Hyun-Sook, children as young as five years old are sent abroad, both “to study the English language and to experience a different culture”. “It’s a fact that when you have English language skills, you’re more competitive, whether you work in Seoul or abroad,” Oh Hyun-Sook added.

5.In 2007, about ________ South Korean visitors will travel to The Philippines.

A. 650,000            B. 110,000       C.30,000         D. 38,000

6.The passage mainly tells us that_____________.

A. the Philippines is the first choice for many South Koreans to study English abroad

B. it costs South Koreans less money to study in the Philippines

C. South Korean students are welcome to study English in the Philippines

D. studying English in the Philippines helps South Korean students a lot

7.This passage is probably taken from  _________.

 A. an educational document                    B. a newspaper     

C. a government report                                                  D. a travel magazine